Tea is second only to water as the most widely consumed beverage in the world. Despite competition from soft drinks, tea still continues to have a significant success thanks to a number of factors. In addition to its organoleptic features, there are physical and chemical characteristics that render this legendary beverage still very much in fashion and very interesting for the development of innovative products.

Tea’s theanine content (alkaloide molecule structurally undistinguishable from caffeine) has an anti-depressant and bland stimulative effect, that does not interfere with the sleep cycle and in general has no negative health effects. Tea is rich in mineral salts (such as fluorides, zinc, potassium, copper and iron) and so-called growth vitamins (group B1 and B2), vitamin C, vitamin E vitamin P and others in minor quantities.

Scientific evidence of tea properties has permitted tea to become asserted as a healthy product so much so that a number of producers have added to their range diverse versions, theanine-free, light and with biological raw materials, other than the now widespread green tea. Tea flavouring allows producers to attain various flavours; the most widespread are cold lemon or peach teas; on a lesser successful scale, flavours such as orange, mandarin, apple and mint. Tea is a very delicate product since the various grades of aromas, the natural substances present in the product or the added active principles may undergo alterations during the industrial production process, which may undermine the intent to differentiate it from the others. This is where the bottling technology comes in and plays a decisive role in preserving the peculiarities of the formulations.